The Oxfam Action Corps is a group of dedicated volunteers in over a dozen US cities who campaign with Oxfam to fight poverty. Each city has two trained volunteer co-leaders who welcome and orient other volunteers throughout the year.
"We do everything, from visiting legislators to gathering signatures at concerts," she says. "I love the breadth of the activities involved, and the opportunities to learn through each of them."
Born in Vietnam and raised in Canada, Nguyen was drawn to Oxfam's international focus and commitment to fighting poverty worldwide. She says she feels a personal connection with Oxfam's climate change campaign, in part because of her Vietnamese heritage.
"I saw a story on the Vietnam news station about the town of Hue, where my mom visited last year," she says. "People there used to experience flooding at the same time every year, and it had become a normal way of life. They developed a strategy for dealing with floods—they would go to live on boats for a few weeks during the worst of the rainy season. After the storms cleared, they would return to their homes and repair the damage."
But climate change has broken down these traditions. In recent years, the floods now come to Hue as often as four times a year; and when they do come, they are more severe. The cycle of people's lives has changed because they have less time to recover.
"The watermarks on the walls of people's houses showed how dramatically the flooding increased. Once the watermarks were only waist high, but now they reach to shoulder or even eye level," says Nguyen.
"To me, this is the bottom line of our climate change campaign: trying to show the human face, and tell the stories of people dealing with changes in their environment. It's up to us to get those stories heard."
]]>So, when it comes to educating the public about how worsening storms, rising sea levels, droughts, and disease hurt poor people, the organizers spend months just laying the foundations, and building understanding among the general public.
This was the goal for Oxfam America's Walk for Climate Justice, a weekend of attention-grabbing events around the country this April. Oxfam field organizers and volunteers organized the walks in 11 cities from Los Angeles to Miami; Lawrence, Kansas to Burlington, Vermont.
Jim French, Oxfam's field organizer in the Midwest, said that amidst a sea of other organizations, Oxfam's efforts got a lot of attention. "There were approximately 30 different NGOs present at the Denver Green Apple event," he said. "Oxfam was both very visible and very well attended."
Holding buckets and walking in a procession, the organizers and volunteers used the walk to symbolize the increasingly long distances poor people must travel to collect water for drinking, cooking, and bathing. At the end of the procession, the volunteers stacked the buckets in pyramids and read stories about how climate change affects people in developing countries like Nicaragua, Cambodia, and Malawi.
They collected about 3,700 petition signatures from onlookers, each asking the US presidential candidates to set aside funding to help poor and vulnerable communities adapt to the realities of a changing climate. These signatures will be submitted to the presidential candidates later this election season along with thousands of other signatures collected by members of the Climate Equity Campaign, a coalition which includes Oxfam America, Friends of the Earth, ActionAid, Climate Action Network, and Oil Change International.
For Oxfam's second group of trained volunteers, known collectively as the Oxfam Action Corps, the event was a good, early foray into on-the-ground organizing. Twenty Oxfam Action Corps volunteers organized around the Farm Bill last year. And the new class of 26 began by visiting with members of Congress on Capitol Hill and then organizing Walks for Climate Justice around the country in April.
Christina Bronsing, an Oxfam Action Corps volunteer from Chicago, organized two walks. She gathered 15 volunteers at a Green Apple Festival in April. And later that month, she led 50 high school students through a procession along Michigan Avenue, one of Chicago's busiest streets.
Bronsing said the walks, like just being a part of the Oxfam Action Corps itself, gave her an opportunity to speak out about climate change and its disproportionate effects on poor people.
"It's something I really care about, so this gives me such a practical way to put it into action," she said.
Dan Coe, an Oxfam supporter and astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles, learned about the Walk for Climate Justice through an email from Oxfam. He was intrigued by Oxfam's take on the issue, so he decided to get involved.
"I think global poverty is about the most important issue there is," Coe said. "The fact that Oxfam is coming at it from the climate change angle is interesting. Let's help poor people: It doesn't matter if it's climate change that's behind it."
]]>In April 2008, 26 new and returning Oxfam Action Corps members traveled to Washington, DC for leadership training—followed by a day of in-person meetings with members of US Congress.
As the minutes ticked down toward departure, the volunteers were nervous, though they tried not to show it.
Today, they looked the part of Washington, DC lobbyists—conservative business suits, folders full of handout materials. But they weren't here to push for special interests. Instead, they would meet with members of Congress to ask for legislation addressing the effects of climate change on the world's poorest people.
Although passionate about their message, most of the volunteers had little experience with these face-to-face meetings. Their leadership training with Oxfam had helped them prepare, but now it was time to put that knowledge into practice.
As planned, the group split up into regional teams to focus on their local legislators. Duyen Nguyen, a Los Angeles-based volunteer, shared a cab with three West Coast teammates. On the way, she recalled the bureaucratic, complex process of setting up the legislative visits. Would today's meetings follow the same pattern?
Adam Olson, a returning Oxfam Action Corps member from Minnesota, felt more prepared than most, since he meets regularly with legislators in his day job as a public library advocate. But today was different, more personal—like many others, he had taken time off from work to attend the training. Today, he was here not as a paid advocate, but as a constituent.
Moments before their first meeting, Nguyen's team gathered around a table in the House cafeteria for a quick last-minute role play.
Then, in what seemed the blink of an eye, they were walking in to their representative's office, shaking hands, and sitting down at the table. A staff member looked at them expectantly, waiting to hear what they had to say.
Olson's team was surrounded by crowds. Everywhere they went—waiting rooms, security lines—hundreds of other activists waited, demanding action on everything from veterans' programs to national parks. Seeing so many other groups, each with their own cause, he wondered if their voices would really be heard.
For the third time that day, Nguyen told a Congressional staffer about how climate change-related flooding affects people in Hue, Vietnam—people that she identifies with because of her Vietnamese heritage. She shared the story as a way to connect with legislative staff, and the plan worked: people opened up, and conversations flowed more easily.
Nguyen's team found that most legislators supported climate change adaptation funds for poor communities, at least in concept?though they acknowledged that the political reality involved stiff competition with other funding priorities. One staffer advised the team on how to approach their legislator's district office, while another gave them an insider update on House climate change legislation.
A senior staff member greeted Olson and his team—and she turned out to be informed and passionate on the subject of climate change and poor communities. "We're behind you all the way, but it's a hard battle," she said. "Change can't come from the top down. We need groups like you to ensure that adaptation funding becomes a part of climate legislation."
Olson was reassured by her words. Even if much work and many voices were needed to get results, he thought, their message was being heard.
The borrowed meeting room was hot and cramped, but it didn't matter. The volunteers sat on windowsills and leaned against walls, eager to share their stories.
As they spoke, it was clear they had succeeded both in spreading Oxfam's message about climate change and poverty, and in building their own skills and confidence as activists.
"I felt like I was delivering a message about climate change for people who couldn't do so themselves," Nguyen said. "It was worth it just to sit down and talk to the people who can actually change the situation."
With a flurry of farewell hugs and handshakes, the volunteers headed to their airport and their various destinations—though their work was far from over. In the year ahead, they were tasked with leading a grassroots movement in their home cities in support of Oxfam's climate change campaign.
Brian Rawson, senior organizer at Oxfam, accompanied the Oxfam Action Corps members throughout their training. "We really came together as fellow activists," he said. "Once they return home, each of these 26 leaders will show dozens more people how to hold similar meetings with their legislators" district offices. So, today is only the beginning."
]]>The reservoir is at the base of large, steep hill, more like a small mountain really. At the top is a spring, from which water flows through pipes to the pond. It was constructed three years ago by a nearby organization called Action for Development with support from Oxfam America. Before then Jarrso's clan members had to herd their cows up the steep hill, the only means to get water in the dry season. Every day cows would expire on the path up to the spring.
"During the dry time there is no grass to eat," Jarsso says. "They could not climb, so we pushed them up, and some would die." There were years in which more than 10 a day would die on that hill.
Piping the water down the hill helps tremendously. More cows can access the water, the herders and their families can retain more of their wealth and can better survive the dry season, and they get clean, fresh water to drink and cook with, and wash their clothes in.
But the reservoir does not help one ongoing problem: herders are reporting that good pasture for grazing their cattle is harder and harder to find, and not just in the dry season. Jarsso and others in his clan say there are three main reasons for the disappearing pasture:
"The Borena people have many different methods for coping with drought," says Abera Tola, director of Oxfam America's program in Ethiopia. "But some of these bushes are new to them, and the increase in tick infestation may both be related to changes in the climate. We want to research this to find ways to help them."
Bilalo Jarsso said the Borena are trying to survive despite these challenges, and are accustomed to traveling two to three days at a time looking for decent pasture.
"We used to find grass somewhere," he said. It is becoming more and more difficult now.
Oxfam America's partner AFD is helping herders take a more active approach, teaching the Borena to manage their range land more aggressively and actually clear away the encroaching bushes to improve the pasture for grazing. This would be particularly crucial in the dry season, says Tolusa Kemaio, a project officer for AFD.
"The dry season is a very serious time here," he says. "People really struggle, and they can't just slaughter their animals to survive."
]]>Each season is slightly different than the previous one, but having anticipated the changing conditions, generation after generation learns to adapt.
But what happens when the seasons become less predictable and the conditions more difficult to manage? What happens when human activities, like burning coal, oil, and natural gas, change the climate—not just for a season, but for the long-term? Then, lacking the information or resources necessary to understand, prepare for, and respond to increased hazards, many of the world's poorest communities experience unprecedented stress.
]]>"In my country, Malawi, we live on agriculture. We depend on the rains. But these days, we're failing to produce; the rains are different due to the effects of climate change."
Tembenu, a farmer and community leader, was one of two featured speakers on a US tour organized by Oxfam America and our allies in the Climate Equity Campaign, a coalition of groups seeking immediate attention to the global warming crisis and its impacts on people around the world. The tour, which ran from March 6 through 13, 2008, included events in both Washington, DC, and Minnesota. Its purpose: to call attention to the effects of climate change on poor communities, and to highlight the need for Americans to take urgent action, especially in the context of this year's presidential elections.
"The rainy season used to be from October to April, and now it's December to March," Tembenu said of her home in southern Malawi. "And the rains are less predictable—they might bring floods, or they might bring droughts." Because of this change in rainfall, people can grow fewer crops, and they face increased risks from waterborne diseases like cholera and malaria.
Rural women are particularly affected by the changing climate. Though the men can migrate to urban areas to seek a better living, women and girls must stay behind to care for their families. Their struggle to put food on the table leaves them increasingly vulnerable to forced marriages and HIV/AIDS.
Joining Tembenu on the tour was Meena Raman, chair of Friends of the Earth International, a network of environmental nonprofit groups. Raman is also an attorney who defends indigenous people and community rights in her native Malaysia.
In Washington, DC, Raman and Tembenu met with NGOs and faith-based groups, as well as a number of US senators and representatives. They even led a briefing session on climate change for Capitol Hill staff—who came prepared with many questions about current climate legislation.
In general, US legislators were receptive to the speakers' message. But Raman says she had a "reality check" when one lawmaker voiced disbelief that greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming.
"When I heard that, I nearly fell off my chair," she said. "I'm shocked that this view is still alive. The more these climate skeptics act like ostriches, burying their heads in the sand, the more difficult it is for the rest of the world to act on climate change."
A farmer in Minnesota and a farmer in Malawi may harvest their crops in very different climates. But Tembenu and Minnesota farmer David Levgold discovered that they share some common challenges. As they walked through Levgold's snow-covered fields, the two talked about climate change-induced shifts in weather have altered the planting cycle on both of their farms.
Levgold's farm was just one stop for the speakers" tour in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. There, Tembenu and Raman spoke at various venues, including a meeting of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a student gathering at St. Olaf's College, church events in the Lutheran community, and an interview on Minnesota public radio.
Oxfam America grassroots organizer Katie Danko accompanied the speakers on the tour. "Both speakers' messages were powerful—their words really resonated with people," Danko said. "There were always lots of good questions from the audience, and lots of response."
Danko recalls one college-aged woman who took part in the question and answer session after the speakers met with a Lutheran church group.
"I realize now that we, as Americans, are a privileged people," the young woman said. "So the question is, how are we contributing to climate change, and what can we do to help?"
Throughout the tour, the speakers emphasized that climate change is not a future problem, but today's reality—especially for the world's poorest people. They called on US leaders to make a concrete commitment to reducing emissions, while also providing funds to help vulnerable communities, like those in rural Malawi, adapt to a changing climate.
Raman and Tembenu also helped raise awareness of climate change as a key issue for US voters during the 2008 elections. During the tour, hundreds of people signed Oxfam's petition calling on the presidential candidates to provide strong leadership on the climate crisis.
During the event at the Minneapolis Public Library, Raman called on Americans, particularly young people, to stand up and take action on climate change.
"That's why we've come here: we want to build solidarity for an international movement," she said. "It's in your hands now. This presidential race will make a real difference in the future of our planet—and the future of our people."
]]>The outlook is frightening. But maybe that's why climate change is finally getting the attention it deserves.
Oxfam America has a long history of supporting vulnerable communities through our disaster preparedness and livelihoods work. Now, we are joining the worldwide movement to use political action to stabilize our planet's rising temperature. Our contribution? We'll put the needs of poor people first.
]]>The audience of conference delegates and reporters applauded as the curtains parted to reveal a collection of 17 drawings and paintings. Some were lifelike and elaborate; others used bold colors and simple lines. But all were created by children and young adults from Bangladesh, Mozambique, or Uganda—and all depict the effects of climate change on vulnerable communities.
After the applause died away, Mutagamba pointed to a drawing by Buyongo Niccolus, a 16-year-old from her home country. "What we see here is a mother and her children," Mutugamba said. "They are frustrated, with no food, and they are malnourished. And they are in the middle of nowhere because everything has been exposed to drought."
Mutagamba and her fellow delegates had a long road ahead of them when they came together at the Bali climate conference last month. Representatives from over 180 countries were tasked with updating the Kyoto Protocol and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which expire in 2012. Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, members of Congress also spent last month grappling with the implications of a changing climate. It has been a busy few weeks for people who care about the human consequences of climate change—a period marked by both encouraging progress and lingering challenges.
Millions of people worldwide are already deeply affected by climate crises like drought, floods, severe weather, and increased disease. Even if the world stopped polluting today, climate change would continue to have negative impacts on the world's poorest people. To tackle this problem, Oxfam is campaigning for rich countries to stop harming by dramatically cutting their carbon emissions and start helping by providing the necessary financing so that people in the most vulnerable countries can adapt to a changing climate.
While Oxfam's "Children's Voices" art exhibit was a success, overall progress at the Bali conference was not always smooth. The US and other wealthy countries often resisted setting clear negotiating terms, and many representatives from developing countries grew frustrated with what they saw as an avoidance of making real commitments on the issue.
After two weeks of negotiations, the Bali delegates agreed to an action plan, or "roadmap," for international negotiations over the next two years. The roadmap hints at new resources and innovative funding for adaptation in developing countries, and finalizes an unresolved plan to implement an international Adaptation Fund. The amount generated for this fund will be far less than what is needed for poor countries to adapt to climate impacts—about $200-$300 million, compared to Oxfam's estimate of over $50 billion—but it is a beginning.
The Bali roadmap outlines how nations can work together to implement these adaptation plans, and provides opportunities for transfer of clean energy technology to developing countries.
Precisely where the roadmap will lead, and how fast countries will work to get there, remains uncertain. But as the UN makes progress toward a final agreement, Oxfam will work to ensure that opportunities created in the Bali roadmap become a reality.
As world leaders in Bali put together a roadmap for global climate change negotiations, US leaders in Washington, DC were also making progress on climate-related legislation.
On December 5, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Climate Security Act of 2007, also known as the "Lieberman-Warner bill" after the lead Senate sponsors of the legislation. While far from providing a complete solution, the bill sets an important precedent by allocating funds for adaptation to climate change impacts.
On specific issues related to developing countries, the Lieberman-Warner bill calls for an "International Climate Change Adaptation and National Security Program" to set aside a portion of the revenues from a government auction of greenhouse gas emission permits. These funds would be used for creating and implementing adaptation plans in poor countries, supporting investments to reduce people's vulnerability to climate impacts, and identifying ways for developing countries to use low-carbon and energy-efficient technologies.
Later in the month, Congress and the president signed off on the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, a massive funding bill that outlines US spending in the year ahead. Within this bill was another landmark for adaptation funding: a requirement that the State Department convene a committee to evaluate and report on developing country adaptation needs and to define a strategy for the US to meet those needs.
Both bills represent forward progress on the need for adaptation funds, but the Lieberman-Warner bill has yet to become law--though it may be considered by the full US Senate this year. Like-minded legislators may also introduce similar laws in the US House of Representatives. Oxfam will continue to follow and strengthen this legislation to make sure adaptation remains a priority.
Not long after unveiling "Children's Voices" at the Bali climate conference, Minister Mutagamba of Uganda met one-on-one with US Senator John Kerry, the only member of Congress in attendance.
After their meeting, Mutagamba presented Kerry with Buyongo Niccolus's drawing from the exhibit. Smiling, the senator held up the drawing for the media's cameras, revealing its rich colors in the bright sunlight. The picture was clear, and so was its message: climate change is a reality, and many vulnerable people are already feeling its effects.
As Mutugamba told the Bali audience earlier in the week, global leaders must take action on behalf of the world's poorest people. "They have no hope. We must restore their hope as a global community."
]]>"When a cyclone hits, it means you can lose everything," said Khan, Oxfam America's humanitarian response officer in East Asia. "Rich and poor alike."
The entire coastal zone is prone to violent storms and tropical cyclones between April and May—before the monsoon season starts—and again in October and November, when the monsoon has ended. Khan estimates that cyclones have killed nearly one million Bangladeshis since 1820. In 1970, one event alone took about half those lives. With a storm surge topping 30 feet, that November 12th cyclone killed 500,000 people and more than one million heads of cattle.
The disaster pushed the United Nations to ask the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to develop an early warning system for the country, said Khan. The result was the establishment of the Cyclone Preparedness Program, a community-based volunteer organization that provides early warning to people, and then helps with relief work and first aid after the storms hit.
But 21 years after the deadliest storm in Bangladesh's history, another devastating cyclone struck the country in late April, 1991, killing 138,000 people. It was at that point, said Khan, that Bangladesh began to look seriously at the steps it could take to help people prepare for the inevitable.
At the urging of aid groups and the donor community, the government of Bangladesh began to shift its emergency response programs to focus more heavily on preparedness. When Cyclone Sidr struck a few weeks ago in mid-November, evacuation planning, early warning systems, and the establishment of cyclone shelters helped to save about 100,000 lives.
Nevertheless, the physical devastation left in the storm's wake was stunning: Sidr damaged or destroyed 1.4 million homes, hurt more than two million acres of crops, and wiped out more than four million trees. What all of that means is that people have nowhere to live, many of them have lost their means for making a living, and food reserves have been wiped out.
While aid groups like Oxfam are responding with programs to provide clean water and sanitation to prevent the spread of waterborne disease and to supplement food in the months ahead, there is a great deal more that can be done to help people stay safe—and recover quickly—from storms like these.
Khan points to the need for more research on how to build low-cost but cyclone-tolerant housing in coastal areas. And then work needs to be done on developing programs with commercial banks to finance the construction of those homes. Additionally, aid groups need to help communities explore alternative ways for people to earn their livings, so that storms like Sidr don't wipe out all their options.
For these disaster risk reduction programs to be successful, added Khan, they need to be based at the community level—where local people will know best what the particular dangers are and what steps are needed to grapple with them. But there is an international component to this too: Donors need to support the preparedness work that local governments and aid groups are undertaking. It's a smart investment. Typically, each dollar spent on reducing a community's risk to disaster is worth about $8 in emergency relief.
]]>
Tahmina clung to a tree throughout the night.
"The wind sounded like a killer, and the waves ate too high," she said. "I was on a coconut tree. The wave took me there. I had no clothes on me when the sea was gone."
When dawn broke, Tahmina discovered that her sons Masum, 17, and Monir, 13, were both dead. In her village in the southern Barguna region of Bangladesh many people lost their lives.
The people of Bangladesh are still picking up the pieces after their country was battered by Sidr. The intense storm killed more than 3,000 people, wrecked hundreds of thousands of homes, and caused massive loss and damage to crops. In total the storm is thought to have affected more than eight million people.
In another village, a boy named Rahim and his family have started rebuilding their home, which was destroyed in the cyclone. But great uncertainty lies ahead.
"Father can't go to the sea now," Rahim said, "because the boat he works in is lost and the nets are on top of the tree, tangled and torn. Some people are giving us cooked lunch every day in the cyclone shelter."
Oxfam has created cash for work programs in cyclone-affected villages so that people can earn a living while they recover from the storm. To support her family, Rahim's mother has taken a job in one of these programs, clearing the village pond for 100 taka a day, or about $1.50.
Women and men in the cash for work programs clear ponds of trees, branches, and other debris tossed there by the cyclone's winds. Since salinity is high on the coastal area, these ponds are often only source of drinking water for an entire village. The workers also remove trees from roads that were blocked by the storm.
Bangladesh is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change. This is both because its population is so poor and because its low-lying geography on the Bay of Bengal makes it especially vulnerable to ocean-borne weather events.
Climate scientists forecast global warming will cause storms of increased intensity like Sidr, and that rainfall patterns will become more variable, leading to more floods and droughts. The sea level rise associated with global warming is also predicted to cause increasing salt content in the soil. These effects present a devastating challenge for a country where 70 percent of people rely on farming for their livelihoods.
]]>The Carterets are six small islands that surround an atoll made of sand; their highest point lies just 5 feet above sea level. The Islanders have fought for more than twenty years against the intruding Pacific Ocean, building sea walls and planting mangroves. But within the space of a generation, the islands' shoreline has receded over 60 feet. During storm surges, salt water washes away homes, destroys vegetable gardens, and contaminates fresh water supplies. For a population of 2,500, largely dependent on subsistence agriculture, the impact has been devastating.
"For the Carteret Islanders, we cannot wait any longer because the islands are shrinking," says Ursula Rakova, who owns land on Huene Island, now divided into two smaller islands and disappearing fast. "When it's high tide, we can see salt water bubbling out of the land. We can no longer make gardens."
"We are one of those who are going to be displaced very soon," she said.
Rakova leads a group lobbying for the islanders' plight to be given more attention. Oxfam has supported a speaking tour for them to publicize their predicament.
In November 2005, the Papua New Guinea government authorized the evacuation of the islands, ten families at a time, to the nearest large island, Bougainville, which is located over 80 miles away. The evacuation stalled, but new funding promised by the Autonomous Bougainville Government in November this year could see Islanders re-commence the relocation in 2008. The Islanders believe that their home could be largely submerged by 2015.
A plantation has been secured where the Islanders can relocate. But there is no basic infrastructure on this land. The Carteret Islanders need somewhere that they can settle together as a community with a shared set of values and cultural identity. They urgently need 3,000 new homes, schools, health care and other basic social services.
Their story illustrates how vulnerable small island states and coastal communities are to rising sea levels caused by climate change. The Carteret Islanders, with a carbon footprint among the lowest in the world, will be among the first to have to abandon their islands because of rising seas caused by emissions from other nations.
So far, neither the Papua New Guinea government nor the Autonomous Bougainville Government have developed climate change adaptation plans. Both have been criticized by their citizens for this.
The Carteret Islanders' story repeats itself elsewhere in the Pacific. In Tuvalu, lowlands are flooded by seawater at high tide and coastal erosion eats away at the remaining land. As a result, saltwater intrusion is badly affecting drinking water and food production. Similar problems are occurring in the Marshall Islands and Kiribati, where at least two islets have already disappeared.
]]>Lovethom, a small village in Cambodia's northern province of Kratie, is home to a Muslim ethnic group called the Cham. The Cham are descendants of the ancient kingdom of Champa, who migrated to Cambodia from Vietnam after the fall of their kingdom in 17th century.
For centuries, the Cham in Lovethom have benefited from living on the fertile Mekong river flood plains. The seasonal flooding each year provides fish and just enough water for rice cultivation. However, the delicate balance of nature is changing, affecting the livelihoods of the people and altering the structure of this centuries-old Muslim community.
"In the last three years we have experienced unpredictable floods. We plant but we can't harvest; it has never happened like this before," said Mom Mayas, a 47-year-old mother of six. Mom owns a small plot of land where her family has been cultivating rice for over a century.
"The flood plain normally overflows from July until September, then the water starts to recede and that is when we start planting. But in the past three years there has been heavy rain, and after the water level receded in September, it just started to rise again, destroying everything in its path, " she said.
Taking this experience into account, this year Mom did not plant immediately after the flood waters receded. But her efforts were in vain because the water level fluctuated three times in the space of two months.
"I have lost most of my early rice crops because of the unpredictable floods and have only started planting rice seedlings in November—the last month of the wet season," she said.
Because of the recent changes in weather patterns, Mom has sent her two oldest sons to Thailand to work as laborers. She now has no men to help her in the fields—her husband fell victim to the civil war in 1995.
"The boys cannot afford to send money back from Thailand," she said. "At the moment they have only got money to support themselves, while my two girls work on a bean plantation up north. I don't really want everyone to split up like this and be far apart from family and friends as well as the community, but if this is what we have to do, then so be it."
Far from being defeated, Mom says she is doing the best she can to support her two younger sons and 95 year-old mother by pressing palm leaves to sell as thatch walls and roofs as well as selling porridge and banana leaves.
"After being hit three years in a row I have no money left to buy seeds to plant next year, " she said. "I have very little hope now, but I am doing whatever I can so the rest of my children can go to school and maybe have a better life."
Tin Ponlok, National Project Manager for the formulation of Cambodia's National Adaptation Program of Action to Climate Change (NAPA), explained that climate change affects an agrarian country like Cambodia in the form of floods and droughts. "The rural poor with limited resources rely solely on agricultural products," he said, "and climate change is costing them dearly."
Tin explained that people living in lowland areas, such as Lovethom, are the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change because of increased flooding and soil erosion. Research conducted by the Climate Change Office of the Cambodian Ministry of Environment has proven that agricultural productivity has gone down during the past five years because of increased flooding, drought and sea water intrusions.
The eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed that least developed countries are most vulnerable to climate change. A decision was made to allocate money to countries which submitted successful National Adaptation Plans.
Tin explained that Cambodia's NAPA identified 39 projects in water resources, agriculture, human health and coastal zone management as urgent priorities. Examples include introducing integrated farming such as cattle raising and vegetable planting so that rice is not the only dependent source of income, and improving irrigation systems.
"Because least developed countries suffer from problems that are caused by somebody else, we think it's fair that we get funding to support our adaptation projects," he said. "We want better commitments towards adaptation from developed countries."